A person impaled on an iron fence, trapped under a concrete barrier, crushed inside a car rammed under a cement truck, even pulled into heavy machinery — these scenes would make an ordinary person cringe.
Firefighters don’t have the luxury to turn away.
This weekend, 60 firefighters from New England to South Carolina trained in how to conduct difficult rescues, where lifting and stabilizing trees, vehicles and other heavy objects are necessary to getting victims out alive.
All of the scenes set up outside American Safety Programs & Training Inc. were drawn from real scenarios encountered by firefighters, said owner Albert Peterson, a retired North Providence fire captain. “God forbid they have to use it,” Peterson said, “but if they do, they can save a life.”
Auggie Matt, of Take the Door Training in Syracuse, N.Y., led firefighters in a scenario of a person impaled on a fence — using a backboard to hold the person in place as they cut away the section of the fence. From there, they would transport the person to the hospital, where surgeons would remove the fence from the body.